Unfolded

“what are you doing?” his voice was cold, and patronising as he stood at the door side, looking as Zeus was few moments from pouring the cups’ content into my mouth
“I am helping you!” he said with a crazed look in his eyes
“and yet you would not tell me what exactly you are helping me for” hades said, having a crazed look in his eyes.
“ you don’t …”
“I am starting to get quite bored of this, step away from her” he said taking a step in our direction. Zeus took a step closer, pouring the drink’s content into my mouth, or at least half of it as Hades was suddenly in my view.
My tongue was numb
It left a tingly feeling as it slid down my throat
“are you okay? Can you hear what I am saying?” he stood in front of me, but somehow his voice sounded like it was from a distance
“Valerie…”
Darkness enveloped me, cold and all-consuming. It felt like sinking into a deep, inky abyss where even thoughts struggled to form. My senses dulled, and time seemed to stretch to be unending. There was no pain, only an eerie calm, my tongue had stopped tingling and now, it was as if I were suspended in a void.

With immense effort, I forced my eyes to open. My vision was blurry, a haze of indistinct shapes and shadows,
“Valerie!!!” he called again, this time more distant. He looked scared? ‘no, that could not be right, there was no need to be scared for me, after all it, me dying would make my soul easier to take
. He was kneeling beside me, his face etched with an expression I had never seen before

Hades leaned closer, his dark eyes searching mine, as if he could pull me back from the edge with his gaze alone.
In this state, for a fleeting moment, I saw it. the face to the memories I had been having
“Aidy” my voice came out weaker than I had expected

he bent down and pressed his lips to mine. It was not a kiss of passion, nothing like the one we shared before now
death’s kiss
the name reverberated through my mind like an anthem
Hades pulled away completely, his expression unreadable. Slowly, I felt my eyes close with one thought in my mind, ‘who the fuck was Aidy? And why did the name sound so familiar?
*
It was dark but somehow, I was still able to see. If felt like I did not exist but somehow I still existed

‘does that even make sense?’ I thought as I moved around, looking for a way out.
“yes, it does” a voice came, along with a girl….
“it is you” I said to the girl. It was the same girl that approached me at the banquet
“Mene” she said with a slight bow
“am I dead? Is this it? I have not lived my life yet!” I said as panic beginning to course through me.
“vale-“
“no please take me back, I promise..” I said trying to hold her but she slipped through my fingers or was it the other way around? “I would be braver, I would live my life this time,
“Valerie”
“I HAVE NOT EVEN HAD SEX YET!!!!” the words flew out of my mouth before I could even stopped them but I was too worked up to care “I have not even had a passionate moment, someone to plant my seeds and then watch it grow, someone to…
“Valerie, you are not dying!!!!” she said shutting me up in an instant. I suddenly felt the wave of embarrassment hit me as what I said dawned on me
“oh” I straightened myself as much as I could “well damn” I said, in a calm voice even though I wanted to look for the biggest river on earth and jump into it.
“where is this place” I asked, looking around, trying to hide the fact that I was indeed very much embarrassed.
“the veil” she said looking at me like I was some weird looking creature.
“if I am not dead, then why?” I almost smacked my head for such question.
‘what if she got angry by my question? What if this question gave her ideas and decided it was not worth it to save my life?’
“I need you to listen, hades is already reviving you and I am powerless against it”
I nodded, feeling a tug at my chest at the mention of his name ‘ I am just excited to live again, that’s all’ I told myself as I shoved the feeling to the side
“Hades and you, you people cannot be”
I looked at her, trying to make sense of what she had said, but… nothing
“huh?” the unintelligent words flew out of my mouth before I could think.
“forbidden lovers, forced to meet in every life time, only this time, if you do fall in love again, it would only end tragically again and there would be no next time for your soul or that of Hades” she had this desperate look in her eyes that made me want to believe her, but with each word she spoke, I could only look at her like she had gone crazy.
“forbidden lovers? I barely can stand him!” I blew out a breath.
“friends to lovers, strangers to lovers, enemies to lover, it does not matter how, you always end up as lovers and it always end sadly”
“if that is true, are you not meant to not tell me so I don’t fall for him?” I looked at her sceptically.
It just did not make sense to me.
“that is what the other gods think, but I think it’s stupid. There is no stopping it that way and this time, I hope it can be a little different.”
“this time?” at this point, I felt like my head was going to explode
“besides,” she continued, totally ignoring me “your memories… you would get some of them when you wake up”
“my memories?” I felt like I was not understanding what she was saying. None of it was making sense to me
“near death experiences brings back past lives” she said as her voice began to fade…..
I woke up with a start to familiar room “WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!"